Opinion: Antifa divides society

In today’s society we see a lot of division; it has spread from recent political issues into a lot of what daily life consists of. One very divisive group of society that is often heard about in the news is Antifa.

A lot of people may not know who they are and what they do. First of all, Antifa stands for Anti-Fascists. They are a group of people who take violent action against who they believe to be fascists and white supremacists, and this serves as their idea of ridding the world of its problems.

While this group claims to be against fascism, they mainly consist of socialists, communists, and anarchists, whose main targets are people that are either conservative or are very vocal about disagreeing with the main ideas of Antifa.

This is ironic because fascism goes against free thinking and tolerance, yet the group Antifa physically attacks anyone who dares to have a different opinion from them. While it is already very obvious that this group is a contradiction of itself, there are multiple reasons why it should have no place in the United States, or anywhere else in the world, for that matter.

As a group that claims to be for peace and tolerance, Antifa are extremely hypocritical, they seem to misunderstand the definition of fascism, and they ruin the chance for actual protest groups to accomplish anything positive. Antifa claims that it’s main objective is peace and tolerance throughout the world. Yet they are one of the most violent groups today.

As an entity that says it hates everything Nazis stand for, they have some striking similarities. To start off with, the Nazis were National Socialists who did not value liberty or individual thought. While they did not follow the classic examples of Socialism, they used the idea of “Master Races” to gain control of production in their country.

What is deemed as the classic definition of Socialism, is shown by the Bolsheviks who used the class system struggle as an excuse for why their government needed the power to oversee production.

So while both formed in different ways, they both led to the same outcome.

Antifa is similar to the Nazis in this way because both believe in strong government power and the elimination of opportunities for free thought.

Furthermore, something often seen in the media, is Antifa beating up conservatives, or even just white people in general, simply because they “look” like Nazis.

Something that the Nazis did which is extremely well known and horrific, is they pointed out people who had different political opinions from them, or people who simply looked like they did not fit in, and attacked them and killed them.

While the persecution of Jewish people and what Antifa is doing definitely do not compare in terms of being absolutely horrendous, the thought process going into these attacks is extremely similar.

When a group that says it is against Fascism stands for the very principles that represent it, there is something seriously wrong.

Fascism itself means total control over society, and the destruction of anyone who opposes it. Fascism historically has supported the use of paramilitary-type groups to attack any opponents.

This sounds very familiar; what current group is using military-type tactics to cause violence and destruction towards who it deems as the enemy? Antifa.

Another point to look at, is the political belief system that many of Antifa members hold.

A vast majority of the members in Antifa are Socialists and Communists. Socialism, Communism, and Fascism are the same form of totalitarianism, in that they all want complete government control, and for the people to give up their free will.

All of these ideas go against the very basic concept of capitalism, which is what most would define the American economy as.

Capitalism gives people the right to control over industry and trade; they get to decide for themselves how they want to live instead of being told by the government what they can and cannot do.

Even simply as a group that claims to want peaceful protests and the solution of issues that are going on in this country, Antifa contradicts itself by rioting and destroying everything in its path. This type of activity is very different from protesting.

Protesting is something protected by the rights that citizens of the United States possess, which allows people to express grievances towards certain events or individuals in this country.

When a group like Antifa comes along and causes such a massive problem with violence and chaos at rallies, it puts entities like the police department on edge, making it harder for actual protest groups to get their points across.

Why as a society is more attention given to a group that causes so much negativity, instead of peaceful groups that want to actually solve problems?

This one angry mob takes away the voice of other groups that are much more deserving of a spotlight.

In the current atmosphere of the United States, the mood is extremely tense.

Society and the media need to begin working on ways to close the gap that has been split through the middle of this country.

Focusing on a group that encourages divisiveness will not do any good for this nation’s prosperity.

Instead of allowing such counteractive groups to exist, the American people need to squash it out through unity.